Home-school Year Begun (and dealing with Expectations vs. Reality)

I started this post after our first week of school.  2013 school photos.

But, didn't write any of my thoughts.   

Thoughts about the year starting off shaky, 

with the expectations we all had about the school year 

colliding with the reality of each day.

But, on a similar note, my expectation of actually sitting down 

and writing out those thoughts didn't quite come in line with the reality.  

The reality that I never did that.

But, here are the photos of the kids, first day of school.

Home * September * 2013 

Kendall.  2 1/2 years old

Moira.  4 years old

Peyton. 5 years old

Gillian.  Almost 7 at this point

Anyway.  So.  There is the record of our school year beginning.  

With thoughts in my mind, but not much written.

So be it.

ABC Preschool - where you can join us!

Preschool classes, open for enrollment!

We would like a few children to come and join us through our
themed abc lessons this year.

Each class focus on one letter.
We will practice letter sound and formation.
Each child will receive a fun letter flashcard.
We will also do fun learning based on the letter theme.
There will be books, songs, bible verses, play and snack.

Each 2 hour class will be $30 per child.
The preschool classes will be for children ages 3 and 4.
(We can talk about almost three year olds, and 5 year olds, too,
if you think your child would fit well in this class.  We are flexible.)

**email me at eadamsdesigns@gmail.com to sign up!
**We're getting started soon!

Here's the general overview and schedule for the rest of 2013

• a is for apple - September 16th

It's Apple Time!
Apple flavors, art, games, science.
We'll talk seasons and the life of a plant.

• b is for butterfly - September 30th

and birds, bees, bugs and bats.
We'll explore all these amazing pollinators.
We'll do some dress up and games 
have a big backyard pollinators hunt.

• c is for chameleon - October 7th

Camouflaging Chameleons are cool!
We'll learn about these crazy lizards.
We will also learn about the color wheel and mixing.
Chameleon's Colors by Chisato Tashiro

• d is for daisy - October 21st

patterning, matching, daisy family study.
ingredients for growth.
seed and soil study.
What Kind of Seeds are These? by Heidi Roemer

• e is for egg - November 4th

Fabulous books - 
Chickens aren't the only Ones by Ruth Heller
An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston
Shape and size comparison study
Egg art and games

• f is for fish - November 18th

Learning about fish and friends.
Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Big Al by Andrew Clements
Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni

• g is for goose & h is for horse - December 2nd

We are going to learn about farm animals.
The geese and ganders and horses and the sheep...
Barnyard fun.  And a little Mother Goose, too.

• i is for inchworm - December 16th

We'll read about the inchworm, of course.
We will also learn about measuring length.

• j is for jellyfish -  January 6th

Jellyfish learning and playing with Ooey-Gooey stuff.




You are welcome to sign up for one class, some classes, or all!

Christmas Gathering

I printed these for the kids and decided to color one myself.  Just so, so cute.

Paper Nativity - Made by Joel

Source: madebyjoel.com via Erin on Pinterest

Way, way, cute telling of the Christmas story.  This is a must see, must share.
We watched it at Scott's company party.
And, I've watched it a couple times at home with the kids.  Watch.
(Doesn't the sheep look like Moira?)

The Christmas Story by St. Paul Art and Media



Can I get a raise of hands for everyone who loves the Jesus Storybook Bible?!
Watch The Nativity story video here.


We checked at the library for a CD of the Nutcracker music.  NOTHING.
What?  Are you kidding me?  I came home and Googled it - Bam.
Free Nutcracker audio downloads


I'm hoping to make some of these little treats.  Tonight?

Sea Salt Caramels

Source: askannamoseley.com via Erin on Pinterest

I did so much baking for our adoption fundraising Bake Sale
(which was a smashing success, by the way),
that I wasn't planning to bake anymore.  But, maybe these again.
They are just SO tasty.

Chewy Chocolate Chunk Ginger Cookies

Source: marthastewart.com via Erin on Pinterest

Thanksgiving Day #5

I am thankful to
-have my kids at home for their schooling.
-cool online resources like Made by Joel and his Paper Cities.
-our once weekly support classes at CFT.
Gillian is learning some basic French language & culture (from her Grandma!)
She is learning drawing skills & calendar skills.
She gets to share all her scientific discoveries with other kids.
We get introduced to great books.
She loves her lovely, youthful teacher, Mrs. Jensen.

Research

I haven't been blogging.  I haven't even been blog reading.

But, our life has still been going along really well, in spite of that.

Pretty much exactly a month ago, 

Scott & I got to go on a local getaway for our 8 year anniversary.

We are seriously grateful that we got to get out for a whole night & day.

It was sweet!

We went to the Dream Inn, which was super hip.

This was our morning view, off the balcony. 

No fog for us.  Evening or morning.

Our time was pretty much a research trip.  And super fun.

We researched each other & together.

Teachers in service day.  Is that what you call it?

I have also spent the last month being irritated & doing minimal research 

on this iphone photo issue.

We are hugging the elephant seal sculpture at Long Marine labs.

And, we took the photo on the iphone, in the vertical position. 

I uploaded it to my computer & it is on my computer in the vertical position.

I upload it onto blogger...  horizontal.

ARGH!  

I have given up.  

And I am postin them here to show you all that we are not smart enough for an iphone.

But, while at Long Marine, we studied up on all the ocean learning there, 

so we could bring our kids & teach them all we learned.  

We petted Swell Sharks, saw little baby ones wriggling around in their egg sacks,

watched quick moving Sunflower sea stars (they just keep growing more and more arms!).

These labs are small.  But, the signage is great & educational & 

the docents are very engaging as well.

{We brought them out 2 weeks later, 

after they were daily asking us when they could go and pet the sharks, too.}

sorry about the flash & the strong reflection.  hard to see, but this is the shark petting tank.

Back to our teacher's research day...
We took a birding walk, hunting for Black-Chinned Hummingbirds.
When we finally gave up on seeing the elusive hummingbird,
we did spot two hummingbirds above us.
But, they moved on too quickly for us to see what they looked like.
It was exciting nonetheless.  I had never thought I would go birding, prior to turning 65.
Now I have.  And, I liked it.  Mostly because of my birding partner.

We ended our outing with the Santa Cruz Food Tour.
People, this was SO fun.
I love good food.  And I like walks.
So, a walking food tour of downtown sounded great to me.
But, once the tour was underway we learned it was much more than that.
We got a really fun history lesson of the city.
We learned about the handsome Victorian homes of the 1800's;
about their builders & the home owners.
We learned about Mission Santa Cruz,
and visited the only original structure still standing.
We learned about the railway that came to downtown
(and how they had to stop outside of the downtown area
and hitch the train to a team of horses,
to take it all the way to the coast without disturbing the residents & merchants.)
Our tour guide was great.  And now we love Santa Cruz more.
We highly recommend this tour to locals and to visitors.

Exploring together was a blast.  We are grateful!

Morning Gathering

We begin our school day together for "circle time".

We sing songs. We might dance a bit or practice clapping out rhythms.

Sometimes it might get a little loud.

Strength training of sorts & aerobic exercises are part of the routine.

(Also - if you want to vote for my kids to win more of awesome Livie & Luca shoes, 

go onto their photo contest on facebook here. 

You can vote for as many photos as you want to.)

Dad is a Scientist

We officially began our school year today.

The kids were glad about it.  (The daddy & mommy were glad, too)

Gillian was the most glad.  She was extremely excited.

(And also excited that she lost a tooth last night.  She is loving the gaping hole in mouth.)

These three youngers participated in music, story time, painting, 

bible memory, coloring, play dough, abc exercises 

& also running around the back yard, teasing the dogs & get into some mischief.   

Gillian is so fired up about seat work, using workbooks, forming letters & doing math.

I am grateful she is such an eager learner.

This is true outside of seat work and the official school season, too.

She especially has a great memory for all the life science stuff Scott teaches the kids,

as they tromp around the yard, or read bed time books, or where ever.

These kids are so lucky to have a dad who is a scientist.  

(Though they can't believe he is one, 

because they thought "that scientists wear white coats & know everything".)

He has tons of scientific facts filed in his brain.  

When they ask him a question about a bug or a bird or a flower or a cloud 

or whatever they see in the natural world around them, he probably knows the answer.

Last week, Gillian found a couple of salamanders in our backyard, 

while poking in a hole in the driveway.  

She was looking for garbage to throw away & pulled up these guys, instead.

I get a little squeamish over critters like this.

But, learning from their father, these kids are fascinated & unafraid.

(All those cool bugs in the above pictures?  

Those are Scott's & they hang on our wall, 

greeting people at the front door as they enter our house.)

Learning inside & outside, from books & during play - 

a few blessing of learning at home together!